Recall
by musicluver008
Summary: He had played so many roles in her life, most of them bad. Kidnapper, caretaker, enemy. She should be happy about the outcome, right? Right? So why did her heart ache for his absence? Ulquihime.
1. Chapter 1

She'd watched the battle from the sidelines, so far, with only a few shouts having disrupted her stunned stillness. She'd watched the man she thought she loved turn in to something from nightmares and phobias. She'd watched her kidnapper and protector unveil the true immensity of his power, only to end up on the ground under the monster that Kurosaki had become. Fear had been her constant companion during the duration of the duel.

But not fear for her safety.

Fear of Kurosaki.

Fear for the rest of her friends, the telltale sounds of their nearby battle clear and audible.

Fear for Ishida.

And one more fear that was just as strong as the previous, if not stronger.

Fear for Ulquiorra.

Not _of_ him, but _for_ him.

He was now standing, his body regenerating from Kurosaki's many blows. Kurosaki had reverted back to his normal self. They were talking, exchanging words of a compromise that would still end in death. Their cooperation was ironic, marred by the fact that they spoke of removing limbs in order to fight on equal ground. It made Orihime sick.

Ulquiorra moved to resume the battle, but froze, his eyes widening in shock before filling with resignation. His wings started to dissolve and turn to ash.

"I guess that's it for me," he murmured.

The Espada and Shinigami then proceeded to argue about the subject they'd just been compromising on. Orihime continued to watch, their quiet voices and Kurosaki's shout rising over the sounds of nearby battle and Ishida's injury-spurred coughs. Her eyes darted back and forth between them as if she were observing a mere tennis match.

All the while, her guardian and enemy continued to blow away.

Resignation filled his gaze again and he turned toward her.

"Are you scared of me, woman?"

_Woman._ What a ridiculous thing to call someone. It seemed that no one would call her by her name—her friends called her Inoue, no matter how many times she implored them to do different. But when he called her that…it was him. It was something that only he did, and it didn't upset her for some reason. She'd never even thought of asking him to call her by her first name.

"I'm not scared," she replied, not even having to think about it.

"I see," he said after a slight hesitation. She recognized the double-meaning behind his words.

"_What is a heart?"_

She knew now that he understood.

His hand, still chalk-white, reached out to her. His eyes rested solely on her as if challenging her. This was him seeking confirmation, confirmation that she indeed wasn't afraid of him and confirmation that he'd discovered the true meaning of a heart. There was something indiscernible in his eyes, something that told her that he was seeking something else, something more. She didn't know what.

She was suddenly struck by the fact that he was about to be gone from her forever, and his eyes weren't green.

That emerald gaze that would fluctuate with emotions he claimed not to have when he was frustrated, angry, amused, or the rare occasions when he was confused or nervous. Those solidly green eyes that would remain trained on her when she ate, ensuring that she finished every bite. The eyes that had become so familiar and her only solace in Hueco Mundo.

His eyes weren't green, and she couldn't let him die without seeing his green eyes again.

He continued to disintegrate.

She suddenly lunged forward, calling for her fairies as her hand grabbed onto his.

A golden glow encompassed their clasping hands, clinging to Ulquiorra. Orihime heard his strangled gasp. She shut her eyes as the glow intensified, becoming painful to look at. Kurosaki called her name.

She poured all her power into her grasp on her guardian's hand.

The glow faded.

She opened her eyes to find him gone. Her hand was still curved as if she still held his fingers.

Despite the two presences behind her, Orihime had never felt so alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Orihime was starting to forget, and it scared her.

It wasn't as if she had an abundance of memories of Ulquiorra. They'd spent a lot of time together during her stay in Los Noches, but her imprisonment wasn't long enough to give her a lot of substantial memories of her protector. The first to become hazy was the feel of his skin. She knew that it was harder than that of humans, but she remembered that he was still warm and not cold like she'd assumed he'd be. They hadn't had physical contact often. But there were times when it happened, and she would always get the strangest sensation at the feel of his skin on hers.

His voice wasn't quite right when she replayed it in her mind. Most of Ulquiorra's words to her were orders or him saying that something she did was foolish. They had never had a real conversation. He never elaborated on answers to her questions, instead opting to give her the bare-minimum of information. Sometimes he had inquiries of his own, usually about her emotions and feelings since there wasn't much else that he didn't understand.

Every so often she would catch a whiff of something that reminded her of his scent. He'd had smelled earthy with a twinge of pine. But there had been something else to his smell that escaped her now. She had expected to him to smell like death or darkness or evil, but his surprisingly ordinary scent had made him seem more…human.

One thing that didn't escape Orihime was his mannerisms.

The smallest frown appeared on his face when he was confused. His hands clenched into fists when he was angry and he bit the inside of his cheek when he had a scathing remark but was holding it back. He made a little sound at the back of his throat when he was frustrated. She knew that there were many things she did or said that he found beyond strange, and there was a certain look he would give her when this happened that she couldn't describe. He liked to read. This she knew because after she'd stopped fighting him about eating, he'd started bringing books to read while she ate. She didn't know what he read about because the books never had cover art and the titles were in Latin.

It was funny. For someone who claimed to feel nothing, he sure felt a lot.

The one thing that never faded from her mind was his emerald gaze. That exact shade of green couldn't be found on any leaf, blade of grass, or other green object that Orihime had seen. It was like that jade was uniquely his own. It was just as piercing in her memory as it had been when he faded from her, and she knew that she would never be able to forget it.

Orihime was starting to forget, and it scared her, but at least she had that to hold on to.

* * *

Everything had changed after the Winter War.

Not in a drastic way, besides some new Captains in Soul Society to fill in the vacancies left behind by Gin Ichimaru, Kaname Tousen, and Aizen. Rukia and Renji were stationed in Karakura Town and were attending school with the others. Renji was staying at the Urahara Shop and Rukia with the Kurosaki's. Strangely enough, Grimmjow and Nel were also staying with Urahara. The two Espadas were the only living ones left and Soul Society agreed to let them live on the conditions that Mayuri got to study them and their powers were severely suppressed. Ichigo had reacted quite badly to Grimmjow's survival, but the two had come to a grudging cessation of life-endangering hostilities. They still fought and exchanged occasional blows, but they were not longer actively trying to kill each other.

Orihime had expected to feel something when Rukia and Ichigo started dating, but nothing came. She supposed it was because of the deep sadness that had only just begun to ebb.

Everyone had new scars, new stories, and new powers. Everyone was thankful that the war had ended and missed nothing from it. Orihime wished she could say the same. She wished that she could be happy like the others. She smiled and laughed when she was around them, and it was genuine for the most part, but in solitude, something was missing. Those green eyes haunted her. The scene of his death replayed in her mind over and over.

So she sat on her window seat, watching the night sky. It reminded her of Hueco Mundo, and, in turn, him.

* * *

A few blocks away, Ichigo Kurosaki entered the Urahara shop.

He proceeded to the back, where Urahara and the others resided. He ran his fingers through his hair as he walked, trying to undo what Rukia had done to it. He straightened his shirt as well since the collar was askew. They had been…_fooling around _before he'd come here, but Urahara apparently needed him for something urgent and Rukia had Lieutenant duties that needed to be taken care of, so they'd separated for the time being. It turned out that Rukia was quite the little minx when it came to debaucheries, Ichigo mused with a grin.

He found Urahara in the basement, AKA underground training facility. Yoruichi was there two, and they were discussing something in hushed tones. Ichigo cleared his throat and the pair turned.

Urahara smiled. "Ah, there you are. I need you to pick up something from Hueco Mundo for me."

* * *

_One week later…_

There was a knock on her door.

Orihime didn't even glance at it. Her melancholy grey eyes remained trained on the moon.

"Come in," she called, not moving from her spot on the window seat.

Her door opened and closed softly, but the visitor said nothing. It was probably Rukia or Ishida, Orihime guessed, because Tatsuki and Ichigo would've said something by now, but Rukia and Ishida were naturally quieter. She didn't hear any footsteps approach, but she felt a presence behind her.

Then, "What are you doing, woman?"

Her breath hitched and her eyes widened impossibly. Her heartbeat roared in her ears like the thrumming of a bass drum. The night sky, her way of remembering him, was suddenly so insignificant.

Orihime suddenly closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head. Was she finally going crazy? Was this grief finally messing with her head? Sure, he haunted her dreams each night, but having hallucinations of him in waking hours was too much. Tears leaked out of her closed eyes and trailed down her cheeks. She remembered the tear tracks that _he _had always had, and a sob built up in her throat, begging to escape.

The cushion of her window seat shifted as the apparition sat in front of her. That oh-so familiar voice sounded again, clarifying her time-weathered memory. "Woman, what is wrong?"

She shook her head. It was too real. "You're not really here! You're dead!"

The apparition sighed. "You claimed not to be afraid before, so why do I frighten you now?"

Orihime opened her eyes, keeping them on her lap. If she looked at him, she would lose it completely. "No, that's what's wrong! Y-you're not really here and that's wrong…you're de—"

She couldn't even say it anymore.

He made a sound at the back of his throat, like he always did when he was frustrated.

"You are being foolish. I am right here and very much alive."

She finally gave in and looked at him.

He looked the same, but very different. The broken helmet was gone, as were the tear tracks. His lips were no longer black, but a pale pink like a human's. He was wearing regular clothes—dark jeans with a black jacket over a white T-shirt. His complexion wasn't white anymore, but he was still pale. His dark hair was shaggy and threatened to fall into his…

…His green, green eyes.

And then she knew for a fact that he was real.

Ulquiorra was here…and very much alive.

Orihime threw herself at him, letting the sobs escape and crushing him to her, or herself to him—she didn't even know. All she knew was that he was real.

Ulquiorra tensed at first, his muscles turning to steel and his back going ramrod straight, but he finally let his arms come up and around the distraught woman. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but he was relieved that she was okay. And he wasn't complaining about being with her again, either.

What an overwhelming week it had been.

He'd woken up in Hueco Mundo seven days ago. He had been in the middle of nowhere, just lying on the ground under Hueco Mundo's eternal night. Upon inspection of his person he'd found that he no longer had a hollow hole. Murcielago was still at his side and he could still feel his spiritual pressure, but there was something significantly different about it.

Then that damned Ichigo Kurosaki showed up.

Long story short, Kurosaki had taken Ulquiorra back to the Urahara shop. Kiske Urahara was one of the oddest humans Ulquiorra had ever met, but the former Espada had to admit that the man was quite intelligent. Despite his genius, Urahara had no idea what to make of Ulquiorra. He'd said that on the off-chance that Orihime's healing worked, he'd been keeping an eye on out for Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure. When something had come up that was like Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure but not quite the same, Urahara had sent Kurosaki to check it out.

But Urahara still had no idea what exactly Ulquiorra _was_. He'd said that the former Espada didn't seem to be a hollow, but he wasn't quite a Shinigami, either, even though he still had his zanpakuto. He hadn't tried to release it yet. He wasn't even sure that he had the ability to.

He'd grudgingly stayed at the Urahara Shop for a week while Urahara performed various tests, made a gigai, and taught him about the modern world.

There was a lot of stuff to learn.

Just minutes earlier, Urahara had given Ulquiorra an address and told him that it was imperative that he went there, but he hadn't said why. The strange man's strange behavior now made sense and Ulquiorra was caught between wanting to thank him and strangle him.

Orihime sniffed and pulled back, looking up at him with watery grey eyes that still held disbelief. He took in her appearance, having never seen her wear anything but her school uniform and the dress she donned in Los Noches. She was currently wearing a tank top and pajama pants with snowflakes on them, despite the fact that it was springtime. Her hair was up and she wasn't wearing her hairpins. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her eyes were red from crying.

Ulquiorra was still unfamiliar with the new emotions he'd been experiencing since waking up in Hueco Mundo, but he felt something stir in him at the sight of her.

"I…I can't believe you're here," she finally said.

He nodded. "I am not quite sure how I'm alive."

Orihime cocked her head and frowned slightly. "How did you get here?"

He knew that her inquiry wasn't about the mode of transportation he had used to arrive at her house, but how he was in the transient world and alive. He then proceeded to tell her about the past week. She listened intently, never looking away as he spoke.

When he was done, she hummed. "I suppose you've just been healing all this time." She fiddled with her fingers. "When I grabbed your hand, back when you were dying, I poured all of my power into healing you. I had thought that it didn't work, but…" She motioned to him. "Here you are. I guess it just took a while."

He bit the inside of his cheek, regarding her with a searching gaze. "Why did you do it?"

Orihime blushed and searched for the right words. "Well…you protected me while I was in Hueco Mundo. And for some reason…I just couldn't watch you die. Something in you…_changed_. And I just had to try." She looked down. "To be honest, when I thought you were dead, I was sad. For a long time."

He was shocked. But there was something else…that damn stir inside his chest again. For a moment he wondered if his hollow hole was trying to come back.

"Well," he said, "Hueco Mundo is nothing but hollows and desolate land. So I'll be staying here from now on."

She threw her arms around his neck again, pressing her face into his shoulder. This time, it only took a second for his arms to wrap around her.

There was so much he didn't understand, and it bothered him to no end. But he was going to figure it out. There was nothing left for him in Hueco Mundo. He was going to have to adjust to living with his former enemies and these new emotions. And he hoped that she would be there with him.

They sat there all night, watching the inky sky and glittering stars, his arm around her waist and her head on his shoulder.


End file.
